HEROES: GLOBAL
by All The Umbrellas In London
Summary: Heroes started with a truly global event. This is the story of how a solar eclipse changed two lives forever. The main characters are two Australian teenagers. OCs. Please R and R. Rated T for violence.
1. PROLOGUE: ECLIPSE

* * *

**HEROES: GLOBAL**

* * *

**It started with a truly global event.**

**This is the story of how a solar eclipse changed the lives of two people.**

**It starts now...**

* * *

**PROLOGUE: ECLIPSE**

* * *

Phil Rushdon glanced sidelong at his partner, and thought for a moment why he didn't just check his own watch. Instead, he answered. "Almost two hours." 

His partner chuckled deeply. "Two hours."

Rushdon settled into the Toyota's driver's seat, and took a sip from his thermos, his eyes trained on the gate across the road. "Yeah," he sighed, smacking his lips, putting the lid back on the thermos, and tossing it aside. Empty. "Time for a coffee run."

"My turn…" his partner answered, sighing.

He left, the door slamming closed behind him.

Rushdon took his mobile phone from his jacket pocket, flipped it open, and checked for any new messages. Sure enough, a tiny envelope icon was on the LCD screen. He opened it. Two images appeared on the screen. A blonde boy, of about fifteen. And a dark-haired girl, the same age. Their targets.

Rushdon looked up, and saw the boy, in a sky blue shirt and dark blue hipsters, school bag on back, iPod in ears, making his way across the road, towards the gate.

The girl stepped out from behind the pillars, surrounded by a gaggle of teenagers. She smiled at the boy, who continued on, towards what Rushdon's briefing for the mission had identified as the Administration Building of Arthur Streeton High School in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

His partner returned to the car.

"He's here." Rushdon said, with a hint of a smile curling his lips upwards.

His partner slid into the seat beside him. Rushdon started the car up, and accelerated towards the school, before turning left down a heavily shaded avenue.

Far above, the skies darkened, as the moon dragged itself across the sun, blocking out its brilliant light.

And all across the world, things started to change.


	2. CHAPTER ONE: DISCOVERY, part 1

* * *

**HEROES: GLOBAL**

**

* * *

**

**It started with a truly global event.**

**This is the story of how a solar eclipse changed the lives of two people.**

**Before it starts, here's how for one person, it begun.**

**

* * *

**

**CHAPTER ONE: DISCOVERY, part 1**

**

* * *

****THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE ONE DAY BEFORE THE EVENTS OF ECLIPSE…**

_He was floating. Not flying, floating, like the air had hardened beneath his feet.__ He was in midair, but he was just walking downwards, towards what looked like the greenest grass he had ever seen, beneath the most glorious sun that he had ever been under._

_And, suddenly, everything went dark._

_He looked up, and saw that the sun, once a golden sphere of brilliant light, was now obscured by disc of black, and only a thin halo of fire was visible._

_Words, and music, penetrated the still air around him._

_He strained to hear. Song lyrics._

"Gold teeth and a curse for this town, were all in my mouth…  
Only I don't know how, they got out, dear…"

_He knew this song. He reached the ground, and began running towards the source. But he was alone, in a seemingly endless field. All he could see was a tree, a big, strong gum, and he ran for it._

_The song continued._

"Turn me back into the pet that I was when we met…  
I was happier then with no mind-set…"

_He reached the gum, and found himself cold all of a sudden._

_Still, it sounded as though the music was coming from higher up in the tree. He began to climb, slowly at first, warily. But he began to gain confidence, and he scaled ever higher, finally reaching the source…_

_The song kept playing._

"And if you'd 'a took to me like,  
Like a gull takes to the wind,  
Well I'd'a jumped from my tree…"

_As if on cue, he lost his footing, and slipped. All of a sudden he was falling, the suddenly cold air biting his flesh as he plummeted downwards._

_The song kept going, and, despite the direness of his situation, he heard it as loudly and clearly as ever._

"And I'd 'a danced like the king of the eyesores,  
And the rest of our lives woulda fared well…"

_He hit the ground._

* * *

"Ryan!"

Ryan Schumacher jerked away at the sharp crack of his math's teacher's high voice, and looked through sleepy eyes up at the dark-haired woman standing above him. However, he could barely hear her through the song playing through his iPod.

_"New slan__g when the notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries.  
__Hope it's right when you die, old and bony,  
__Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall,  
__Never should have called,  
__But my head's to the wall and I'm lonely…"_

She continued to talk as the song kept going, but Ryan didn't bother taking his earphones out.

Finally, she reached down, and plucked them out herself.

"Pray tell," she said, with a drop of venom. "What was it you were listening to, that's more important than my lesson?"

"The Shins." Ryan answered truthfully.

The teacher drew herself to her full height, short, and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I think you had better go and take that to the deputy. Take your bag too." She turned on her heel, and returned to the whiteboard at the front of the class, but nobody was interested in her lesson anymore.

Why would they be? They had Ryan Schumacher to stare at.

The blond boy grabbed his school bag, and swept all the items on his desk into it; his maths text book, his calculator, his notebook, his assortment of promotional pens.

As he left the room, a few quite whisperings heralding his departure, he put the earphones back in, and slipped into the lyrical bliss that was The Shins.

"_God speed, all the bakers at dawn, may they all cut their thumbs,  
__And bleed into their buns 'till they all melt away…_"

And somewhere, in the back of his, the dream played over and over and over.

* * *

Theresa Delizotti hated the Administration Block. It was always to cold, whenever she was sent in, which was quite frequently. Not for bad things, she wasn't the kind to get in trouble, but the kinds of things that brought the Year 9 Student Council Representative to the Principal. Catering for the next P&C meeting, for example.

He was on a phone call or something.

And so Theresa was stuck in the freezing cold office.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and the blonde, quiet kid from her Spanish class slouched his way inside, his bag slung over his shoulder. He made his way over to the receptionist's desk, and Theresa found herself straining to hear their brief exchange. Finally, he trudged towards the couches arrayed outside the suite of offices belonging to the executive teachers.

He slumped into a seat, and dumped his bag on the floor in front of him. He acknowledged her with a raising of his eyebrows. "Hey," he nodded, and gave her a brief smile. "What are you in for?"

"Student Council, you?"

"Listening to music in class. Oh, and falling asleep in maths." He laughed slightly, and took his iPod from his pocket. He plugged one earphone into his ears, and leaned back in the chair, keeping his eyes on hers.

"What are you listening to?" Theresa asked. "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name."

"Ryan," the blonde teenager said, with that hint of a half-smile on his face. "And I'm listening to The Shins."

"The Shins? Never heard of them."

"You should." He moved along the couch towards her, and offered her the other earphone.

Theresa took it, and slipped it into her ear.

Immediately, her right ear was assailed was by a slight whistling sound, before a man started singing.

"_I think I'll go home, and mull this over,  
__Before I cram it down my throat.  
__At long last, it's crashed its colossal mass,  
__And broken up into bits in my moat…_"

Theresa glanced at the boy sitting next to her, obviously enraptured in the music.

"I've actually heard this song, I think. In a movie with the Star Wars chick, and that guy from—sorry." She cut herself off when he held up a finger.

"_Lift the mattress off the floor,  
__Walk the cramps off,  
__Go meander in the cold.  
__Hail to your dark skin.  
__Hail to the fact you're dead again.  
__Underneath the power lines, seeking shade,  
__Far above our heads are the icy heights that contain all reason__…"_

"Mister Schumacher, the deputy will see you now." The secretary said, and Theresa took the earphone out, handing it back to Ryan, who flipped the iPod off, and wrapped the earphones around it.

"Time to face the music." Ryan said with a sly smile.

Theresa nodded. "Good luck."

"Same to you, Miss Student Representative." Ryan said, giving her a wink, as he slipped the iPod into his pocket, and he opened the door to Mrs. Hayden's office.

Theresa sat back, and made eye contact with the secretary. The woman winked at her suggestively. Her worst fears had just been confirmed. She had just been flirting with the school slacker.

* * *

Ryan stepped into the office of Mrs. Hayden, the Deputy Principal in Charge of Juniors, and saw the woman shaking her head.

"Listening to music in class again, Ryan?"

"It was maths, miss."

"I know, but really. Take a seat."

Ryan pulled a chair over, and sat in front of her desk, glancing up at the trio of posters on the wall. Shakespeare. Fun. He sat back, and prepared himself for a long lecture.

* * *

Lunchtime. The best time of the day. Classes were dismissed, and almost a thousand teenagers migrated onto the fields to eat, to play sport, or just to talk. But Ryan Schumacher, doing his best to do the opposite of what everyone was expected to do, had gone to a classroom, after agreeing to meet with some of his friends up there.

It was on the second floor, overlooking the back fields, with wide, high windows. Ryan had opened one, and had perched himself on the sill, looking out onto the fields. A line of trees separated the road below from the fields.

He reached into his pocket for the iPod, and once again plugged himself in. He let himself once again be carried away by the soft, lyrical sounds of The Shins, staring off into space.

And still, in the back of his mind, he thought about that dream, about how he had been falling.

The same song came on as he had heard in the dream.

_"And if you'd __'a took to me like,  
__Like a gull takes to the wind,  
__Well I'd'a jumped from my tree…"_

At that instant, one of the small windows on the wall opposite him shattered, and a cricket ball arced through the air, right for him. Ryan twisted around, his eyes widened as the ball rocketed towards him, and it hit.

Time slowed.

He was toppled from his perch, out of the window, towards the asphalt road six metres down.

He didn't scream, and all he could hear was the gentle sounds of the song.

_"And I'd __'a danced like the king of the eyesores,  
__And the rest of our lives woulda fared well…"_

But he never hit the ground.

He was floating.

About thirty centimetres from the ground, as though he had been borne aloft on a cushion of air.

_"New slan__g when the notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries.  
__Hope it's right when you die, old and bony,  
__Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall,  
__Never should have called,  
__But my head's to the wall and I'm lonely…"_

He gently settled onto the asphalt, sitting up. He glanced upwards, and saw the open window.

"Oh, my God." He whispered, touching his head, just to make sure he was real. "What happened?"

* * *

Not too far away, two men watched from a parked car.

One reached into his jacket, and removed a mobile phone. He punched in a number, and placed it against his ear. "This is Rushdon. We have confirmation on the identity of the boy. We'll stay in position."

* * *

**A/N**: _This is the introduction of our two main characters, and the introduction of one of their powers. Everything belongs to me, except for the_ Heroes _idea, and, of course,_ The Shins_'s lyrics; "_New Slang_" and "_Caring Is Creepy_"._


	3. CHAPTER TWO: DISCOVERY, part 2

* * *

**HEROES: GLOBAL**

* * *

**It started with a truly global event.**

**This is the story of how a solar eclipse changed the lives of two people.**

**He fell from a window, and emerged unscathed.**

**But what can she do?**

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO: DISCOVERY, part 2**

* * *

Ryan Schumacher sat on the road, hand on his forehead, eyes wide, praying to God that no one had seen his fall. How was he not hurt? He had gone _out the window_, for Christ's sake.

"Ryan?"

Breath caught in his throat.

"Oh my God, are you okay?"

He turned, and saw Theresa Delizotti running towards him. He pushed himself up before she reached him. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just had a minor fall, that's all."

"You fell out of the window!" Theresa said, her eyes wide with fear.

"Your eyes must be playing tricks on you, Miss Student Representative." He managed to get his harsh breathing under control, and put his sly smile back on. "I'm fine. Go enjoy lunch with your friends." He turned back around, and plugged himself back into his iPod, but he could barely hear the music over the pounding of his heart. What had happened?

Why didn't he have broken bones? Had he even hit the ground?

He walked on, leaving Theresa staring after him, hand on her heart. He made his way to the school gate. Once there, he looked around. The lawn leading to the Administration block was deserted.

He ran out. And did not stop until he got home.

Following behind him, always at a safe distance, was a black car, carrying a pair of men.

* * *

Theresa did not return to her friends that lunchtime. She, instead, went to the library. She was positive she had seen Ryan float, and it had reminded her of a book she had borrowed a few months earlier.

She pushed her way into the air-conditioned building, and didn't bother to acknowledge anyone; her heart was beating too fast, and adrenaline was pumping too quickly through her bloodstream. She had to find out what was going on. He had fallen, from a height of about six metres, and not only survived unscathed, but had made jokes about it. She reached the 'Biology' section, and looked up and down the shelves.

Finally, she found it.

It was a hardback, covered in a blue dust jacket. Two words, arrayed at the top of the cover, displayed the books name. _Activating Evolution_, by Chandra Suresh. She tucked the book under her arm, and went fishing in her school bag for her wallet. Drawing the small leather item out, she opened it, and took out her library card.

She'd get to the bottom of this.

"Theresa? Theresa Delizotti? Are you paying attention?"

Completely involved in Activating Evolution, Theresa ignored her science teacher. The bearded, glasses-wearing man loomed over her, glaring down at the chocolate-haired girl.

"Miss Delizotti. What is it that has you captivated so?"

Theresa jerked upwards, smiling sheepishly, as the rest of the class around laughed and giggled together.

The teacher reached down, and plucked the book off of her table.

"Activating Evolution? Please tell me you're not buying into this garbage." He said, with a sarcastic half-smile crossed his face.

"It's pretty interesting, sir."

"Miss Delizotti, it's pseudo-science crap, written by a hack scientist. Still, if it interests you, write me a report on it, and I won't have you disciplined for not paying attention in class."

"Yes, sir," Theresa said, with a relieved sigh.

From outside the lab, the 3:10 bell rang, signalling the end of the school day.

"I want it by next week." He said with a genuine smile, and Theresa smiled back. Raising his voice so the whole class could hear him he said "Okay, folks, pack up, and head on home."

* * *

Ryan Schumacher perched on the sill of his bedroom window, looking out over his expansive backyard. His family wasn't home, and so he had taken this opportunity to find out just what the hell had happened earlier that day.

His room was on the second floor, and the window was high up. He swung one leg over the sill, and then the other. Finally, when he was sure, he stood up, keeping his hands on the inside of the window. He kept his footing, the breeze softly blowing across his face. He brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped out into thin air.

He didn't fall.

It felt as though the air beneath him was as hard as stone. He stepped again, and remained level with the window.

He laughed wildly. He began to walk downwards, as though descending stairs. He went left foot, then right, going down about twenty centimetres each time. He began to gain confidence, started to speed up. He broke into a mid-air run, hitting the ground seconds later.

He stumbled as he landed on the soft grass.

Suddenly, the air grumbled with the sound of lightening. Ryan looked up, and saw the sky obscured by bruised grey clouds. A storm was on the way. He sighed. He looked up, towards his room.

His lips curled upwards in a slightly cocky smile.

He ran. Upwards. He pumped his legs, his feet leaving the ground. He began to climb upwards, back towards the open window, as light rain began to fall all about him. About a metre from the window, Ryan braced himself, and pushed off from the hardened air beneath him. He sailed in through the window, and hit his queen-sized bed.

He laughed with joy, punching the air with his fist. He smiled broadly. Getting off the bed, he walked over to the window, and slammed it shut as the rain picked up.

He needed to tell someone.

He had something special, something that no one else would have. He'd be special, famous. Or, he realised in disappointment, they'd lock him up somewhere.

Spirits dampened, Ryan turned back to his bed.

He flopped down, picked up a surfing magazine, and plugged himself into his iPod.

The man named Rushdon crossed his arms, and waited. He had seen the boy run up, _through thin air_, into his bedroom before the rain started.

Now all he needed was confirmation from his partner that they had located the girl.

The government had, since 1993, maintained a database of the genetic make-up of more than sixteen million Australians. Every person who had surgery in any hospital in the country, or vaccines, booster shots or blood tests had their genetic code tested and catalogued. All immigrants were also catalogued.

It had cost millions of dollars, and taken thousands of man hours.

And it was all because of one book, written by one man. _Activating Evolution_, by Chandra Suresh. The Indian geneticist had hypothesized that humankind was on the precipice of a major evolutionary step forward, and that some people had genetically already taken that step.

So the Australian government had set up the Australian Superhuman Information and Acquisition Service, ASIAS. They had identified over four hundred Australians, ordinary people, with extraordinary abilities.

It just so happened that two people, fifteen year olds, who had both been analysed and tagged following a mandatory tetanus booster at the age of five, had been tracked down to a school in Eastern Sydney.

Rushdon had been ordered to keep track of them.

And now he had confirmation that at least one of them had been able to tap into their congenital abilities. The boy, Ryan Schumacher. Rushdon pulled a pen and a small square of paper, with the boy's name printed across the top, from his pocket. Rushdon scribbled two words beneath the name.

_Atmospheric manipulation_.

Rushdon slipped the paper back into his jacket pocket, just as his mobile started to ring. Rushdon took it from another pocket, flipped it open.

"Yeah."

"Rushdon. I've followed the girl back to her home. I have yet to get confirmation."

"Good," Rushdon said, with a hint of a smile. "I've got it."

"What's the kid's power?"

"Atmospheric manipulation. I'll explain later. Call me if you get confirmation."

Rushdon hung up as the rain started to get heavier.

* * *

Theresa Delizotti hated the rain. And she hated being in the rain. But there she was, desperately trying to get the semi-dry clothes off of her line. In the last couple of minutes, the rain had started to fall faster and harder.

Her mother had left a message; she'd be home at six, giving Theresa an hour or so by herself.

Above her, a flash of white brilliance split the sky, and thunder rumbled through the cold evening air. Theresa shivered, pulling a sheet off the line, folding it quickly and tossing it into a wicker basket.

Finally, as the rain got even heavier, there was only one item left on the line. Her black '_Pink_' T-shirt. Theresa lunged for the shirt, as a flash of lightening carved the blackened clouds, and struck the metal clothes lines.

Theresa didn't have time to scream as hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity surged through her body, throwing backwards onto the soaked, muddy lawn. The clothesline melted into a twisted hulk of aluminium and steel.

It collapsed, across Theresa's unmoving body.

Such a shock of electricity would have killed any ordinary human. But Theresa Delizotti was not ordinary.

Her left eye opened, and a single tear slipped down her cheek, leaving tiny, glowing sparks leaping in its wake. She looked down, and jerked uncomfortably when she saw the thin beam of metal crossing her midsection.

She sobbed slightly, unable to believe what had happened.

Her hands tingled strangely. Bringing them up to her face, she saw flashes of electrical energy arcing between her fingers.

She reached down, and tried to move the remains of the clothesline from her legs. It didn't budge. Placing both hands against it, Theresa shoved. Electricity jumped from her hands to the metal, and in a shower of sparks, the shattered remnants of the clothes line flew away, and tore through the wooden fence separating her backyard from the neighbour's.

Theresa's eyes widened, and she looked again at her hands.

It seemed as though mini bolts of lightening were leaping between her fingers, leaving a slight tingling sensation on her skin.

She took a deep breath, and felt tears mingle with the rainwater sluicing down her cheeks. She was drenched to the bone, and her uniform was covered in mud. What the hell had happened?

Another bolt of lightening shot across the sky.

Theresa looked up, eyes widening in horror. She pushed herself up from the ground, and, grabbing the basket of now-soaked clothes, bolted inside.

* * *

In the shadows of a copse of trees in the Delizotti's next door neighbour's yard, Rushdon's partner watched as the girl stared in horror at the damage done to her clothesline. He withdrew a small piece of paper from his jacket pocket.

As Rushdon had done mere moments before, his partner scribbled two words down, beneath the name of his subject.

_Electromagnetic manipulation._

He had confirmation.

* * *

Rushdon's mobile phone buzzed as he drove away from Schumacher's house. He took it out of his pocket, and flipped it open, to see a tiny envelop icon on the LCD screen.

A text message.

It was his partner. He had confirmation.

Rushdon smiled to himself. Tomorrow, the fun would start.


	4. CHAPTER THREE: POWERS

* * *

**HEROES: GLOBAL**

* * *

**The global event is almost here...**

**He has control over the atmosphere...**

**She can control electricity...**

**But are they safe?**

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE: POWERS**

* * *

**THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE FOUR HOURS AFTER THE EVENTS OF DISCOVERY, part 2.**

"Ryan! Come down for dinner!"

Ryan Schumacher's eyes snapped open. The voice that had woken him from his fractured dreaming was deep, and booming. His father. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, and glanced out his bedroom window. The rain had stopped falling, and the sun had disappeared over the horizon. Glancing at the clock radio on his bedside table, he realised that he had slept for more than three hours.

"Ryan!"

He rubbed sleep from his weary eyes, and made for his door, just as he heard footfalls on the stairs outside.

"I coming, dad!" Ryan shouted, pushing open the door, and stepping through.

His father stood outside, and smiled down at his teenage problem child. "Good. Your mother worked hard on this meal."

Ryan rolled his eyes, as he pushed past the middle-aged banker. "I'm sure she did. And did Alyssa help?"

Jacob Schumacher chuckled under his breath, as the two made their way downstairs.

As Ryan reached the ground floor, he detected the scents of lamb roast coming from the dining room. His mother, a thin, medium-height woman with shoulder-length blonde curls was setting out the table, with the help of his ten-year-old little sister, Alyssa.

Ryan hung back for a second, as his father went inside.

"Marie, he's on his way," he whispered to his wife, as she placed a platter laden with delicious-looking meat on the mahogany table.

Ryan was just about to join his family, when there was a quick rap on the door.

"I'll get it!" he shouted, spinning on his heel towards the wide front door. He reached down, and grabbed the brass knob. He twisted, and it swung open. "Oh my God. What are you doing here?"

Theresa Delizotti stood framed in the door, tears streaming down her face. "I need to talk to you," she choked. "Now."

Ryan glanced at his family, who hadn't noticed the crying girl on their front step. He indicated that the two of them should step outside, but Theresa placed her hand on his chest. She shook her head.

Ryan nodded, understanding.

The two of them wasted no time in ascending the stairs to the second storey. Ryan showed her to his room, and shut the door behind them. Twisting about to face her, he said "What the hell, Theresa?"

"I should be dead, Ryan," she whispered, and looked up at him, right into his eyes. "Four hours ago, I was struck by lightening. I should be dead. Like you."

Ryan scoffed, but he felt himself get hot under the collar. "I don't know what you mean."

"This afternoon, Ryan. This afternoon, I _saw_ you fall. From a second storey window, and then I saw you get up as if you had tripped over a step. But I _saw you_! You fell." Theresa said emphatically, keeping her eyes locked on his.

Ryan tried to turn away, but the girl reached out, and turned him around physically to face him.

"I can do something, too. Watch this." She turned on her heel, and her eyes fixed on the clock radio. She extended her right hand, and twisted it upwards. Sparks leapt across the radio, and it, inexplicably, drifted upward, and hung in mid-air.

Ryan blinked in shock. "Oh my _God_…"

Setting the clock radio back onto the bedside table, Theresa turned back to him, fresh tears in her eyes. "Please tell me you can do something."

Ryan opened his mouth, but said nothing.

"Please…" Theresa whispered, her cheeks wet with tears. She brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes.

He nodded mutely, still choking on words. "I…I can."

"What?" she asked excitedly, wiping her eyes.

Ryan swallowed. Then, he lifted his left leg, and Theresa's face fell. "I'm not messing with you," he promised, and he lowered his leg. About twenty centimetres from the ground, his leg hit what felt like concrete. He lifted his right leg. Twenty centimetres from the ground, it hovered in mid air.

He was levitating, twenty centimetres above where he normally stood

"See?"

Theresa looked him up and down. She let out a small whimper.

Suddenly, from downstairs, Ryan heard his father walk towards the stairs. He dropped to the ground. "You have to go." He whispered to Theresa.

"Where?" She whispered back incredulously. "Out the window?"

"Exactly." He grabbed her elbow, ran towards the window and jumped. He sailed through the opening, and Theresa followed.

He landed, catlike, in mid-air, but Theresa didn't. Still, he kept ahold of her.

"Oh my God!" she screamed, but Ryan indicated for her to be quiet.

He began to walk downwards on the spot, and together, they landed on the sweeping lawn, glistening with unevaporated water. Ryan took a few steps forward, and turned back towards Theresa. The girl, eyes wide in shock, just stared at him. He smiled broadly.

"Whoa…" she whispered. "That was _so_ cool."

"Come on," Ryan said, grabbing her hand. "I'll pretend I went out the front."

"Huh?" Theresa said, as the two of them ran towards the side of the house.

"When my dad asks me where I was," Ryan explained hurriedly, and he ducked below a window, careful to avoid being seen. "You had better go home."

"Yeah," Theresa agreed, as the two came to a stop outside Ryan's front door. Ryan reached into his pocket, and pulled out a pen. He pulled her hand close to him, and scribbled something.

"My mobile number, and my email. Add me on MSN when you get home."

Theresa nodded dumbly.

"Alright." Ryan drew her into a tight hug. "Let's keep a lid on this until we had a chance to talk a bit more, huh?"

"Yeah," Theresa stammered as he stepped back. She had known, well, known _of_, this kid for two years, and had never seen him so excited, so enthusiastic, about anything. "Yeah," she repeated, spinning on her heel.

Ryan watched her walk away, his heart thumping in his chest, his smile wide. He turned to the front door, placed his fingers on the handle, and was about to push, but the door opened for him.

His father stood there, behind a pair of rimless glasses.

"Ryan," the tall man said. "Dinner."

Ryan nodded, mute. It was strange, he thought. He had done something so amazing, that now eating dinner just felt like a pointless, mundane task. It felt, somehow, _beneath_ him. He could _fly_!

His father turned back into the house, and Ryan went in after him.

Well, not _fly_, he corrected himself. He could hover, levitate. Still it was cooler than anything the man leading him back to the dining room had ever done. Ryan's eyes narrowed slightly.

* * *

For Ryan Schumacher, dinner had been a silent, hurried affair. 

As soon as he had left his plate in the dishwasher, he'd run upstairs, and found himself in front of his wireless-connected laptop before he could blink. He turned the computer on, and, sure enough, as it automatically logged into Windows Live Messenger, a dialogue box flashed, informing him that he had been added by Ryan accepted the new add, positive it was Theresa.

Sure enough, it was. And she was online.

He double clicked on her icon. A new box flashed up on screen, but before he could type anything, words scrolled across the screen.

Theresa – Love Flows Where My Rosemary Goes says:  
_Ryan, what da hell is happening to us???_

Ryan wrote the only response he could think of. Three letters.

Gold teeth and a curse for this town says:  
_idk_

He thought desperately. What could be happening to him? He'd always been a fan of superheroes. Especially Spider-man. It didn't hurt that Kirsten Dunst was in the movies, but he'd always been a fan. He couldn't imagine that kind of thing _really_ happening.

He typed another message.

Gold teeth and a curse for this town says:  
_what makes u think i would??_

He leant back in his chair, his mind racing.

Theresa – Love Flows Where My Rosemary Goes says:  
_iv been researching. a book by this indian guy, shandra suresh._

Ryan's eyes narrowed.

Theresa – Love Flows Where My Rosemary Goes says:  
_chandra._

Ryan opened Internet Explorer. His homepage, Google, flashed up. He typed in 'Chandra Suresh' and then 'book'. The third option down looked good enough. Ryan clicked on it.

An image of a blue book appeared. According to the text beside it, it was '_Activating Evolution_', by one Chandra Suresh. Ryan quickly read a synopsis. His jaw dropped.

He reopened the chat box he had going with Theresa.

Gold teeth and a curse for this town says:  
_omg. this is very strange theresa._

A second later, she responded.

Theresa – Love Flows Where My Rosemary Goes says:  
_u don't need to tell me. my mum is calling. g2g._

A second later, she was signed out.

Ryan swore quietly. What, the _hell_, was happening? Could it be possible that some Indian geneticist had foreseen everything that would happen to him, and to Theresa? And, apparently, to millions of others around the world?

He was lost in a netherworld of unfocused thought for a few seconds, before a new message box rudely wedged its way in. His heart sank when he saw who was trying to talk to him.

KASHA 45 says:  
_heya babe.__ wats up?_

Ryan quickly typed a response.

Gold teeth and a curse for this town says:  
_not much, trav_

KASHA 45 says:  
_thats no good lol_

KASHA 45, A.K.A. Travis Ross, was Ryan Schumacher's boyfriend of almost three months. And, for some reason, Ryan's mouth went dry whenever he was IM'ed by the fourteen year old, or whenever he got an SMS from him.

KASHA 45 says:  
_maybe we can do more together lolol_

Gold teeth and a curse for this town says:  
_yeah, mebbe_

Ryan felt uncomfortable, which was odd; he was fine with Travis anywhere but here. There was something about having his boyfriend, even in a digital form, in the house in which he had grown up in was somehow disconcerting.

He'd had girlfriends over before, and knew that he would again; he was bi, not gay. But there was something that stopped him from bringing Travis to his house.

Gold teeth and a curse for this town says:  
_I g2g trav cya 2morrow_

Before Travis had time to answer, Ryan signed out.

Ryan had had a definite attraction to Travis the moment they had met, at a friend's birthday party three months earlier. Travis had been the one to make a move, and Ryan had been taken aback, but also strangely curious.

It had gone from there.

But Ryan felt that that discomfort he had experienced was different. He was different. And Travis was, like his father, beneath him.

Ryan glanced out his window.

Time to see what this power could do.

* * *

Travis Ross lay on his bed, staring out the window over the tap of his Macbook, and ran his hand through his immaculately maintained fringe, which now, as always, was brushed to one side in what many had started to refer to as an 'emo fringe'. 

His eyes drifted back to the computer screen.

Suddenly, there was a sharp rap on the glass of his bedroom window. Travis looked up. He was pleasantly surprised to see his blonde boyfriend standing there. Travis smiled, surprised he would do something so romantic.

He nearly had a heart attack when he remember that his room was on the second floor. His eyes widened.

Ryan Schumacher was standing outside his window…in _midair_.

Travis moved as fast as he could to the window. He threw it open, and Ryan casually stepped through, defying gravity the whole time.

"What the hell…?" Travis trailed off, and Ryan threw his arms around the boy's neck, and pressed their lips together. Travis wrapped his own arms around Ryan's stomach, and felt a rising elation at this kiss, perhaps the most passionate he had yet experienced at Ryan's hands.

Finally, they separated. "I can _fly_!" Ryan exclaimed jubilantly. "Well, not _fly_, but I can hover. And I can _run_ in mid_air_!"

Travis raised an eyebrow. "You been hitting the crack pipe?"

Ryan laughed, and shook his head. "Look!" Ryan lifted his leg, and performed the same demonstration as he had for Theresa.

"Holy hell." Travis whispered, his eyes wide, his jaw low. "How the _hell_ can you do that?"

Ryan smiled.

He drew Travis into another hug, squeezing him tighter than he had ever hugged him before. Travis shut his eyes, and hugged back. But, to Ryan, it was still _hollow_. Empty.

"You know…" Travis whispered slyly. "This is kinda…hot."

* * *

Theresa Delizotti woke up early the next morning. It was as though she was auto-pilot; she ate, brushed, showered, dressed, and was watching mindless morning talk shows when her mother, Lucia Delizotti, Jane-of-all-trades extraordinaire, joined her, carrying a breakfast tray. 

She sat on the couch beside her daughter, and took a bite of a piece of toast.

A single mother, Lucia had been just about everything in her forty-year life: nurse, law clerk, engineering assistant, personal assistant to Yoko Ono, high school teacher. Now, however, she had taken to being a full-time mother, with a part-time job; devoted to keeping close to the 'apple of her eye': Theresa.

"We didn't get much of a chance to talk last night, Theresa. Did you do anything special yesterday?" Lucia asked, sipping from a glass of orange juice.

Theresa opened her mouth, but caught herself. "No, mama, nothing special."

She smiled to herself.

* * *

Ryan tiptoed quietly through his bedroom window, silently drifting onto his bed. He still hadn't gotten over the high of the night before: he had ran, actually _ran_, through the air, as though he was a bullet, just gliding, moving faster than he ever had on the ground. 

A night spent with Travis, however, had somewhat alleviated his joy. The boy was becoming tiresome. Ryan couldn't even remember his rationale for going over there.

He was glad, very glad, that he was still a virgin.

He'd save that for someone as special as him.

"Ryan!" It was his mother, from downstairs.

With a smile on his face, Ryan quickly threw on the pyjamas he had not gotten around to wearing the night before.

* * *

"Mister Kaplan? Eric Kaplan?" 

"That's right."

"Mister Schumacher will see you now,"

Eric Kaplan was a tall, muscular man, with dark hair greying at the temples, and a very unusual ability; he could molecularly bond with metal. He could phase into a piece of metal, any size, and then phase out the other side, completely unharmed. He was, under another name, the most wanted man in Australia, but the government would never admit it.

He was not wanted for any crime he had committed.

Rather, it was for the embarrassment he had caused when he had refused an invitation to join ASIAS. Instead, he had joined the other side. An organisation committed to keeping evolved humans out of the Australian government's hands.

Kaplan had evaded ASIAS at every turn, and had saved at least a dozen superhumans. Today, he would save two more.

He pushed his way through a large oak door, into an office with a panoramic view of innercity Sydney.

"Mister Kaplan," said the man in the rimless glasses behind a large mahogany desk, the sole occupant of the rather spacious room. He stood, and stretched out his hand.

Eric shook it.

"Please sit," the glasses-wearing man said, indicating one of the metal chairs across from him.

Kaplan eyes them carefully. "I'd rather stand."

Schumacher nodded. "Of course, of course. Tell me, in you line of work, have you ever had to rescue young superhumans?"

"Define young."

"Fifteen."

"No. The youngest I've picked up was twenty-three. They barely had control of their powers." Kaplan answered, watching Schumacher carefully.

"Well, that's your new assignment. Protect two fifteen-year-olds."

Kaplan snorted. "What would ASIAS want with a pair of teenagers?"

"These teenagers have fully evolved powers."

Kaplan's eyes widened in shock. "No. That's impossible."

"Is it? We're getting closer to the global event. In fact, it's only a few hours or so away. When it happens, I expect hundreds of thousands of people all over the world will discover talents that they never thought they could possibly have." Schumacher stood, and looked out over the city. "I have these teenagers close at hand. But I don't have an ability. I'm no match against what ASIAS would send after them."

Kaplan nodded. "What is it, exactly, you want me to do?"

"Keep an eye on them. When ASIAS comes after them today, I want you to protect them. And if you can, distract ASIAS long enough for me to pack up two families."

"You want to relocate whole families as well?"

"It's only six people all up. Believe me, your employers are being well-paid."

"They had better be." Kaplan said, with a hint of pain in his voice.

"My secretary will give you the data as you leave."

Kaplan nodded, but did not go. "Just one question. How is it you know all this?"

Schumacher turned back to face the fugitive. "Because I used to work for ASIAS. Because I saw what they did. I've already ceased to exist once in my life. It's no stretch to do it again."

* * *

**A/N**: _This is my first try writing bisexual characters. How did I go? And don't worry, it won't be a major plot point if you don't like it. So yeah, you can kind of already see a conspiracy form..._


End file.
